While continued improvements in technology and procedures has precipitated many changes in the construction, organization, and use of the wide range of equipment and procedures commonly associated with emergency vehicles such as ambulances, air transport devices and the like, reliability and storage requirements are always critical in selection of equipment available. While crash stable pediatric restraint and immobilizing devices are generally desirable and required in many emergency rescue and transportation situations, as well as other every day situations such as commercial air transportation and simple vehicular transportation and commuting, the various devices available in the prior art generally suffer from excessive size, bulk, degree of complication, and/or cost, which inhibits their widespread use.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,181,356 (which issued to H. Fleischer) discloses a folding baby carrier which comprises a plurality of parts which can be folded into a flat arrangement. However, this carrier does not provide any restraint system, nor does it provide structure for reliably holding the child in a plurality of positions for safe, comfortable and/or convenient transportation. Similarly, while U.S. Pat. No. 4,058,342 (which issued to J. Ettridge) shows a foldable child's car seat, the device is relatively complex and bulky, and lacks means for easily adapting the seat to a wide range of child sizes.
A wide variety of child safety carriers and seats have also been available for use in conjunction with motor vehicle transportation. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,274,674 (which issued to B. Deloustal) illustrates an example of a reclinable safety seat which can be anchored within a motor vehicle. The Deloustal safety seat provides several predetermined reclining positions, and two trough shaped half shells of semi-rigid synthetic material are hingedly connected to provide the main portions of the seat for supporting a child. A plurality of slots are provided in the half shells through which various straps for securing and holding the child in the seat can be threaded. As with a number of the other child safety seats available in the marketplace, however, this device is relatively bulky, requires a relatively large amount of space for storage and non-use transport, and requires a relatively cumbersome procedure of removing and rethreading support straps for children of different sizes.
Another child restraint device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,338 (which issued to M. Gisser) comprising a base and a hinged flap which can be locked in planar configuration to support the child, and folded over for carrying and storing the restraint. This device further includes a plurality of wing panels which extend from sides of the hexagonal base member which can serve as walls surrounding the child in use, as well as a five point restrain harness system. This system, however, is designed for lap-top use or attached facing a chair back as shown in FIG. 7 of the patent. Consequently, this device is practically limited to use for small infants, and its base and flap must remain in planar configuration in use, thereby limiting its applicability.
Devices have also been specifically designed for use in emergency vehicles and the like, such as the child safety support sold under the name KIDDIE LITTER (a trademark of Dixie), which includes a rigid base, a back support piece and a leg support piece which can be assembled in several angular orientations by a plurality of upstanding side support members. The KIDDIE LITTER seat is designed to reduce to a flat position for storage, and its various pieces can be snapped together in a plurality of orientations for supporting a child in various positions. Foam mattresses can be adhesively applied to the upper surfaces of the device for additional comfort. However, this assembly does not provide for optimum strength and rigidity in use, and requires a plurality of pieces which must be snapped together or assembled for each use. Additionally, while the KIDDIE LITTER includes a plurality of openings for adjusting its restraint harness members, such adjustment is relatively cumbersome and requires inconvenient disconnection and/or removal of the harness members for threading through individual slots.
Other devices, such as the Carrie LifeSeat (as available from Tumbleforms, Inc., Clifton, N.J.) provide immobilization and/or restraint for pediatric rescue and transportation applications, however, have similar problems of complexity, bulkiness, assembly and/or storage requirements.
Consequently, while the need for providing safe, reliable, and convenient child safety restraint and immobilization devices has clearly existed for quite some time, the products available heretofore have generally been too complicated, too big, too cumbersome, and/or difficult or impossible to quickly adapt to a variety of recurring applications and varying child sizes. Others, such as the built-in child seats which have recently become available in certain automobiles, are dedicated use type devices which cannot be transported or adapted to a variety of vehicles and applications.